19. May 2008 by admin.

Hi       Today is now May 19th 2008, two days after finishing my 100 mile run around the Track at Poway High School. It was rough it was tough, it was 22 hours long! Wow… where do I start without making this story a year long? So it starts off at 2:30 am in the morning I am driving down Espola and I see Phil walking down to the track. “hey phil… you ready man?”. He Hops in my car and we went down to the junior parking lot and starting blasting some rock music in the morning just to get hyped up for the coming day. Apparently people dont like you blasting music at 2:45 in the morning though. So a cop rolls into parking lot, gets out and says “do you think this is reasonable?” not knowing what he was referring to I said “no, but what were about to do is very unreasonable..” The cop quickly moves his hand closer to his gun (something I said?). Quickly fixing myself, I said, “No, no nothing like that were about to start a 100 mile run that I am doing today around the track at this High School.” A bit taken back, “O very well, wow, well if you could please turn off the music as it is 2:45 in the morning that would be great, good luck! I’ll think of you when I go back to sleep” and he drove off.

     The first leg was 24 miles taking us down into canyonside park in Rancho Penasquitos we had to go this route because the track didnt open until 7:00. My friends Alex Gilbert, Sean Ohmen and Phillip Deason were by my side throughout the morning. When we arrived at the track my Girlfriend Danica Teyssier and her mom Leslie were already there quick at work helping set up some beautiful banners her Dad, Phil had made for me. Then no less than 15 minutes later and some gatorade, I was off starting the second leg. It began with Mr.Fisher, Aaron Wilkes and Alex Gilbert by my side for 2 miles before we took a small break. Aaron and Alex courageously joined me for half a marathon each, an amazing effort for such a blisteringly hot day. Then as the day continued support just seem to come pouring in. NBC had stopped by for an interview and I managed to stop and get a kiss from Danica on local news! Then Pat and Oscars stopped by and dropped off two cartons of breadsticks! yes I thought! As they are my favorite food item in all of San Diego County.

The day got HOT however and it got HARD to run. I hit a wall for about 20 miles the longest wall I had ever experienced, but I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I had to push through it. And yes finally by 2:00 it had come mile 50! an 11 hour struggle through temperatures upwards of 98 degrees. I was’nt pleased with the time, but then again this wasnt for time, this was Andrew. His family made an appearance and hooked up a live web cam feed so Andrew and I could see each other. Life has been rough on him and by what I saw on the webcam I knew I had to keep fighting for him as this month marks the year anniversary with the Cancer. Hang in there Andrew, I know you can pull through this man! Then with a full baggage of emotion on mind I continued out into vast second half of the run.

Hot, long and fast? Thats how I would describe the second half. I did’nt hit another single wall until mile 99 suprisingly. So much support, so many people by my side helping me out made it so easy for me to just beat down mile by mile. The afternoon was a runners high, on mile 72-75 I ran it in 23 minutes and 30 seconds going about 7:45 per mile..why? I dont know I felt good. Then at around 10:00 o’ clock at night the Track Closed and I took off with Kalo Greenwall, Danica, My mom and My sister NARA to go complete the last 20 miles that I had left in me. Really? Only 20 more I thought? Nice… The run didn’t end too nice however..I was seconds away from passing out at mile 99, not sweating at all, I weighed 3 pounds less than I did going into this leg and could barely walk without having to stop and dry heaving for sec. Luckily Kalo and Danica were there and we walked a mile with them on my left and right side holding me up for the entire time until 100 miles was something in the past.

Overall it was an amazing experience, a huge thank you to all the donators, supporters with your help I managed to raise 4,300 dollars this weekend for the society! 1,000 dollars more than I had raised the previous nine months! I am astounded. Also a big thanks to all of you who ran with me, weighed me, made me eat, sprayed me with water and more without you guys I would’ve probably died. Thanks again to all!

-Nick Hollon (aka Mr.3000)

www.3000forthecure.org

Posted in Race, the week, Blogroll, Donations, Long Distance running, Leukemia and Lymphoma societies, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

7. May 2008 by admin.

Hey whats up guys? Coming up on May 17th I will be running 100 miles around the Poway High School Track Located at 15500 Espola Rd. Poway CA 92064. I will be running from 3 in the morning on Saturday until 1 in the morning on Sunday. I will have NBC 7/39 covering me throughout the day. I am looking for people to pledge .25 cents to .50 cents per lap that I am running (It comes up to about 100 dollars total) but hey I am running 100 miles in one day! Thats not something that occurs too often right? Thanks again for keeping up with me guys I would love to see some of you out there, as I will need the support.

Posted in Blogroll, Race, Donations, Leukemia and Lymphoma societies, Long Distance running, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

16. April 2008 by admin.

Hey guys how is it going? This week was another fun one getting my miles in and I finally signed up for some races which is good. My online donation site is being stupid and isnt working still, its really adgitating its saying my event is done but it isnt.. I will have to go downtown and talk to them soon. Well anyway so the mileage for this week was a bit lower than normal because I wanted to work on speed instead. I am well on my way to my goal as I have 2,200 miles complete as of now. So monday was 20 miles and then the rest of the week I spent doing speedwork trying to train to hit a 4:50 mile time but only managing to hit a 5:11 apparently my body isnt used to going fast… darn well So now that I know that I’ll start back up on the distance. Well take care guys and see you on the road!

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

16. April 2008 by admin.

This week was pretty much typical. I have been planning out and trying to figure out my schedule of races for the upcoming months of June and May I am planning on doing the Rock n’ roll, PCT 50, Leona Divide 50 and SD endurance 100 all of which should be quite fun. I did 13 monday, 13 tuesday, 16 wednesday, 13 thursday, rested friday and did my usual 26 on saturday feeling pretty good these days I am trying to figure out a way of getting faster but have yet to come up with a schedule.

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

10. March 2008 by admin.

Hey guys giving you the Lo-down on March 3rd-9th! So on march 1st of course was my 100 miler and then next day I had work..that was fun I limped around dying and moaning for a couple of hours then got to go home and get some well deserved sleep. Then on Monday, I was feeling great ready to get back into my running routine already but didnt want to try yet at my mom’s request and advice. So then on Tuesday I decided to get together with Tomas my mentor and we went on an easy 5-6 miler around Iron Mountain area. Beatiful San Diego weather lately I might add. We were talking about the newest biggest athletes who were winning the Ironmans these days and we also discussed a training plan to get faster and beat the 3 hour marathon. So with beating a 3 hour marathon on my mind I decided to try and beat the hour and half for the half marathon the next day. So after I got out of lunch during sixth period I went down to the track and ran 53 consecutive laps around the track (most boring run of my life…except for that time on the treadmill…) and I finished 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 27 minutes averaging around 6:45 per mile. The rest of the week, I spent really just recovering and working out (trying to get some more muscle mass to burn on the longer runs..). Then friday came around and I felt like beating myself up so, I did three 5:30 repeat miles my splits were 5:27, 5:29 and 5:33 that crap hurt more than the 100 mile run. Then this weekend I took it easy and just did some biking and swimming switching up the work outs and getting ready to continue the routine for the next week. Well thanks for keeping up and please make a donation today! See you on the road!
-Nick Hollon

Posted in the week, Blogroll, Long Distance running, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

3. March 2008 by admin.

Hey guys just giving you the simple lo-down on my first 100 miler that I did on Saturday 03-01-08. I started off at 3:30 in the morning on saturday ran a 31 mile leg and then took a 30 minute break. Leg 2 was 27 miles and generally easy still at this point only one small wall that was easy to overcome. It had been really easy at this point because a 10:15-11:00 mile pace is like candy to me and just enjoyable. Finally some pain was felt throughout leg 3 which was 24 miles, pounding feet, and some sore muscles but wow do salt pills help out more than ever! All the pain during this leg was very easily manageable and I was on an endorphin high I think for most of this leg so that was pleasant
Finally the leg where I actually felt like holy crap this is tough was leg 4. Again another 24 mile leg starting off at 9:15 at night and ending at 1:45 the next morning. You guys had told me that twilight running was the most difficult and most challenging however, I found it to be the most relieving, cooling part of the run, but previous runs I have done I had ran through night many times before so it wasnt anything new. Anyway the pain, mile 86 haha it was crazy usual physical pain you know wobbling sore knees, muscles that are sore as death, feet that have become one solid callous and so on. The pain I am talking about though was nothing like what I had felt before… It was all in the head all mental.. it was a mental wall. My mom was riding with me on this leg and trying to keep conversation with me so I wouldnt drift away she was asking me things like Nick, “what do you want to do in the future?”, “what is 3+18?” “what is your favorite color?” really stupid simple questions I thought with one part of my brain and I was asking myself “why is she asking me these stupid questions?” However no matter how much I tried I couldnt come up with an answer for my favorite color, or the math question or my future I couldnt remember it was strange and almost scary whatever part of my brain holds memories I guess had fallen asleep already or shutdown…that lasted mile 89 where I took a break at a gas station and ate several candy bars and a Starbucks double shot and then beat the crap out of the last miles hyped on caffeine and sugar…and that was the worst of it, that mental wall. I got back to my car at 1:45am 3-02-08 and was done.. that was it I had run 100 miles in 22 hours and 15 minutes setting myself my new distance PR. It was so much easier than I thought it would be, I have ran marathons that were harder, but none the less I am doing nothing but chilling and recovering this next couple fo days.. So nextly I’ll enter in an official trail run 100 and try my luck there. Cool well thanks for the advice guys and hopefully our paths will cross soon in future races! -Nick Hollon (P.S. any good 100 milers out here in San Diego besides the San Diego endurance 100 later in June?) I will also have pics for this up and hopefully funny captions following them. (If I dont get the pics up they can be viewed on www.myspace.com/3000forthecure just click view pics and then ya read the captions their hilarious)

Posted in Race, Long Distance running, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

3. March 2008 by admin.

So ya judging by the title, you have guessed.. I have ran a 100 mile run. This is true, and this is how it came about. I was talking with Joe Decker and he said next weekend he wanted to do a 100 mile run on Saturday if he could get things worked out. So I asked my mom, and she was like “sure if Joe is doing it, he is a good guy and highly professional”. So I was like sweet! I am totally running a 100 miler this weekend. So I prepared the week accordingly. I ran four miles on monday and that was it, for the whole week of running. Then the rest of the week I worked like hell on my abs, lower back, upper back just trying to build a really strong core before attempting this run. I also worked out a ton on my leg muscles doing upwards of 600+ lunges of doom over the week (stupid lunges..they make your butt hurt..) So then ya anyway with the run, Joe e-mailed me again early in the week saying that he couldnt do it this weekend and that instead he was going to run a 50 miler on thursday starting off at 7:00 at night and running until 7:00 the next morning in the Cuyamaca Mountains. I thought, “damn thats uhm crazy and kinda weird..” (He was running at night because its the most challenging part of a run to get through apparently.) So I asked my mom if I could join him on that, She said no because I had school on friday. So I was like ok, uhm can I run to long beach? (which is 100 miles away from San Diego) She said ya, only if I have a crew of min. two people with me the whole time and I have to have the thing completly planned out to the point where mile by mile I know my calorie intake and loss. So I agreed. Then friday rolled around and my friends that were going to crew for me, flaked out on me! (it happens all the time though..) So I was talking with my friends Phil and  Sean in Civics and was like alright so would you guys be able to join me if I kept the run local and just did four different marathons in four different directions? Then they agreed that, they would be able to crew for me if I did that. So I spent the rest of the day re-routing and preparing a run stationed in Canyonside Park and going North, South, East and West for 100 miles. So that was how this run came about last minute…and this is its story…..

Posted in Race, Blogroll, Long Distance running, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

3. March 2008 by admin.

So I got back from my trip to Saleen Valley with my Uncle on Monday. It was a relief to be back and run in normal conditions where I was not being barraged by small sand pellets of death. I got back though, only to find that this whole next week it was going to be pouring rain in San Diego! A great thing for San Diego (because we need to water) a bad thing for running because that meant the “TREADMILL”, and I hate treadmills…. So this week my running goal was 80 miles regardless of weather conditions. So on Tuesday I did an easy out and back twenty throughout Scripps Ranch and into Mira Mesa. Then on wednesday I followed that up with a nice run down at mission bay area with my mom. Lately I had been stuck on running fast. It wasnt my choice, as of late I had been running 7:30 miles everywhere I went and however long I went. It was nice, because left and right I was setting myself new speed-distance records. So the pinnacle of the week was definetly on Friday  though when I ran a marathon in break record time! I started off doing a dreaded 6 miles on the treadmill at the gym at a 7:30 pace. As I said, I got to mile six and then I didnt care how much it was raining, I wanted the hell out off of that treadmill. So then I proceeded from Frogs down Pomerado towards espola (going north) and then did a gigantic poway loop, completing espola to twin peaks, twin peaks to midland, midland to poway, poway to the end of GR, then GR to poway, poway to Sabre Springs Parkway and back through some more streets into my house. I however completed that marathon in 3:17, three hours and seventeen minutes. That was a new record for myself and gave me complete confidence that if I wanted to attempt to break a three hour marathon this year that I fully well had the ability too. Well that was this week, hope you guys are all doing well. See you on the road!

-Nick

Posted in Long Distance running, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

3. March 2008 by admin.

This week was a bunch of fun. I had just finished dealing with a stupid sickness and was ready to hit the ground hardcore running again (even though in retrospect from now I really should have focused on sponsorships and news articles instead..). So this week again I made it my goal to do 20 miles a day. Again I got to about Tuesday before I was like ugh.. I’ll just do a big run this weekend and continue on with smaller ones this week. So I did, on Wednesday I left to Saleen Valley with my Uncle to do a huge trip out there. The camp was stationed only like 50 miles away from badwater, CA!!! OMG!! A run that hopefully, in the next year or two I will be well capable of accomplishing (www.badwater.com for more information on that race). Ok, so a story I have while I was in Saleen valley. Crazy stupid run.. So where in the Desert and I see this Peace sign out in the distance, maybe 3-4 miles away and I am like dude I gotta get to that sign. So starting off there is no trail getting out there so I am dodging cactus and running over large rocks (good trail running practice I guess..) Then I reach the top of the peace sign and it is a really great view from the top. I see however in the distance what looks to me like a giant blob of fog rolling into the valley. So I am like “ok, whatever its just fog..”. So I run back towards camp and get on the main dirt road and look around and that blob of fog is alot closer that it was before to the camp. Still I ignore it and decide to go check out the lower camp. Then I am running on my way back up to the upper camp (about 1 mile away from the lower) and that wasnt fog at all…it was a frigging huge sandstorm! the bushes are flying everywhere tumbleweeds bigger that I have ever seen are flying by my head. I couldnt open my eyes to see, it felt like 1000 bee stings were happening on my skin every step I took (as I was just wearing short little runners shorts..). So I covered the next mile, by hiding behind bush by bush waiting for a lull in the wind to proceed to the next bush. It was a fun experience and I always say “miserable is memorable” so that just made it all the better. Well please make a donation if you have not yet to my cause, I will continue keeping you guys posted. Til’ next time stay classy San Diego.

-Nick

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

3. March 2008 by admin.

The sickness..I got struck again, annoyingly. So running was temporarily halted until, even though the sickness wasnt at the point where I couldnt run I did not want to aggravate the thing and prolonge sickness. So for this week, I was resting and trying to figure out what exact dates that I want to do this 100 mile run, talking to Joe about possibly doing it late this february if I was ready….. :o  So that was a thought.. Other than that truth be told I did fall behind this week on everthing a little bit..It was another week I wasnt sponsored and wasnt running. So happy that, that week is gone.

-Nick

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »